Technical Field
The present invention relates to a hydrogen sensor and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly to a hydrogen sensor capable of allowing a user to recognize a hydrogen leak (e.g., without extra eyewear).
Description of the Related Art
Hydrogen energy has been considered as a growing alternative to fossil fuels due to an increasing interest in low-pollution alternative energy and environmental pollution from and the exhaustion of fossil fuels. Hydrogen fuels (specifically, commercialization of hydrogen fuel vehicles) may be utilized within the next few years, consumption extension (e.g., increasing the amount of time the hydrogen may be used for) may be desirable in various technical fields such as distributed generation power fields
Hydrogen fuel may have unique characteristics (e.g., spontaneous combustion and explosiveness), so safety measures in fabrication and transportation processes of the hydrogen fuel may be necessary. To safely use hydrogen fuel, the critical function of a hydrogen sensor may be to measure hydrogen density and detect a hydrogen leak.
A hydrogen sensor fabricated on the basis of the above requirements includes a catalytic layer, a metal oxide layer, and a sensor protective layer that has sensing selectivity. Hydrogen molecules leaked to the outside pass through the protective layer, and are broken down within the catalytic layer, so that the physical properties of the hydrogen molecules are changed in the metal oxide layer. A movement path of hydrogen gas atoms requires a porous structure, and the hydrogen sensor may need a complicated three-dimensional (3D) path, so the movement speed and the amount of gas may be limited. In addition, a substantially slow movement speed may lead to a substantially slow reaction speed, a smaller amount of gas moved, a less sensitive the sensor, which results in reduction of color variation. In addition, discoloration reflexibility of the metal oxide layer discolored by thickness of a catalytic layer may be decreased.